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The Rancho Gordo Bean Club continues to have a waitlist. Lima beans have rebranded to butter beans, and their popularity has soared. Even The Wall Street Journal agrees that beans have replaced kale as the nutrition hero we all need.
Among all the things to love about beans — they’re delicious, affordable and packed with protein — they’re also important to our state’s economy: Nebraska is one of the top producers of beans in the entire country. So, when the Farm to School team at the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) came to us to help them fulfill a grant to promote Nebraska-grown, plant-based proteins in schools, we had an inkling that beans would be a big part of the story.
We used existing research from our previous, successful campaigns for this team, including the Start Small campaign for Nebraska Thursdays, Walk to Unlock Nebraska and the Turnip the Beet award. Instead of focusing on school lunchrooms and food service professionals, we were inspired to pivot to the classroom, specifically Family and Consumer Science (FCS) teachers. We then conducted new, primary research and interviewed professionals and teachers from across the state who said that beautifully designed lessons that are pre-aligned with Nebraska educational standards would be not only useful but highly prized as top-caliber resources.
The NDE team loved the idea of creating a bean-oriented curriculum, and together, we identified connections throughout the state to make it happen. A class of education majors at Wayne State College wrote nine lessons full of presentations, activities and guides, and an FCS teacher (and FCCLA advisor at her school) ensured the lessons matched NDE curriculum standards. Our editors and designers here at Emspace + Lovgren cultivated these lessons and transformed them into consistent, beautifully designed and accessible online resources.
At the same time, we developed a fun, festival-like brand to unify the curriculum and promotional campaign to excite both teachers and students.
Enter: Beanstock.
Inspired by the energy found at Woodstock and Junkstock, and by stunning Indigenous art, we wanted this brand, and the subsequent campaign and curriculum series, to be a celebration and appreciation of all things beans. We were also continually inspired by beans themselves and their rich tapestry of colors and history. We focused on six different topic areas for the curriculum, which also became part of the brand and teacher guides: art, cooking, nutrition, agriculture, economics and history.
Educators across the state can now download free, flexible (and dare we say, beautiful!) lessons and activities about local plant-based proteins and specialty crops that tap into their interesting history, flavors and impact. Beyond the middle and high school classrooms, students will have opportunities to enjoy beans at lunch through school-focused recipes and compete in a state-wide recipe competition. In all, Beanstock will encompass nine curriculum units, containing hundreds of documents, presentations, activities and guides. We also created the launch strategy, including earned media, social media and direct mail tactics.
Farm to School efforts are now supported by FCS teachers statewide through Beanstock, leading to more awareness of Nebraska agriculture and healthy food products. By pivoting our strategy to target teachers, the intent is to strengthen partnerships between educators and food service professionals, expanding our audience and network of ambassadors.
